PAPER ORB

CANVAS CRANE

Didn't really know what I felt like painting, so a paper crane seemed appropriate. It was more of an excuse to mix paints, make pretty colours, and get really dirty splattering paint everywhere. My knees still have red and blue speckles. I felt a bit like Neil Buchanan by having this random art-attack.

STARBURSTS

Hangin' out at the grandparent's... Had a little fun with this. I used sketchbook paper from my brother's sketchbook and it's definitely not the best to fold with. It doesn't have very good memory and it's very soft. Either way, here's a pattern I saw on Andrea Russo's Flickr.

Despite the fact that this tessellation is relatively flat and the paper never overlaps (but I still think it's technically considered a tessellation?) I like how it catches light. Other tessellations look nice when they're back-lit, but this one looks good when light is coming across it's surface. Yum.

STRAWS TO STARS

I love folding paper stars, but I'd never heard of folding straw stars... My cousin taught me how the other day, and it's hard! It took me so long to get it - mine are the ugly orange and yellow ones on the right. The ends still have to be trimmed. They're stronger and look cooler than paper stars, I think. Just being super Asian.

LINED PAPER: NOT JUST FOR DOODLING

I love scrap lined paper. Although I'm not at my regular work station back home - I'm visiting my cousins in Toronto - I've still managed to make time to fold a little bit. Found a piece of lined paper lying around on a desk and folded a pattern from Eric Gjerde's Flickr.

I like this pattern with it's octagons and squares... And I feel like I can develop it further, so it's time to get some more lined paper.

NOW I NEED A CRAFT ROBO

Spending time on Flickr has its advantages. The other day, browsing through some cool origami albums, I stumbled upon Polly Verity and her Flickr account - which is just full of gorgeous works.

 

The stuff she makes is so magical and seems to defy all folding laws - perfect curves, corners and edges. How does she do it? She folds polypropylene using a Craft Robo - a printer-like device that has a small blade rather than ink cartridges. Through a compter program, patterns can be made then "printed" through the Craft Robo onto anything from light film to cardstock and plastic. These scored cuts on the polypro can then be folded and collapsed into things like what Polly Verity does. In conclusion, I need a Craft Robo and some polypropylene.

HALF SIZE

I liked my last modular project so much, I decided to do it once more but with 7.5x7.5cm paper - half the size of the first attempt. The smaller scale proved to be much more of a challenge (as one would expect) and it had me using random objects I could find to help me assemble the units together. I ended up using my painting knife to hold open some of the pieces so I could weave other pieces in. It was quite a mess.

In the end, no matter how patient and gentle I was with the paper, I couldn't get two of the flaps into their rightful pockets so they're just kind of hangin' out I guess. Other than that, it's not a bad model. The colours were a little unfortunate but it's all I had in that size. But it's a cute size, so I'm happy.

Design by Jeannine Mosley (Diagram here).

MOVIN' OUT

Moving is tough when you're both an origami nut and someone who doesn't throw things out (I know there's a word for it, but pack-rat and hoarder are not words I like to use to describe myself...) I've selected some special works from my larger collection to keep safe at a friend's house while I'm gone for the year.

And when I say "some" special works, I do mean a decent-sized box-full of stuff. As for the rest of my projects, they get a special send-off to the after world of paper: a glorious flaming farewell. I'll be setting those things ablaze somehow somewhere sometime. Those were the ones that were fun to make, nice to look at, but for one reason or another just fell apart or turned ugly. They had a good run.

BABY-GAMI??

I just came across this little "factoid" and thought it was too jokes to pass up sharing... Maybe my next step is folding babies? Oh, wait, no.

Found on the Origami Resource Center.

PARALLELOGRAM + TRIANGLE = RHOMBUS

Yes! I found a new puzzle today. As usual, it was a tough one that required a lot of head-scratching, jamming paper tabs into the wrong pockets, and some mild cursing. This was a very interesting piece: 12 15x15 cm square sheets, which formed 4 rings, made of 3 units each. These four rings had to intersect properly to form a stellated rhombic dodecahedron. Fun numbers.

The rings that were formed have 3 parallelogram faces and six triangular faces. When joined together, the pyramids they form has a rhombic base rather than a square base which I think is kind of cool...

The outcome was more satisfying than a normal modular ball, as generally this shape would require at least 24 units. Because it's formed with intersecting rings, it doesn't need nearly as many - it's just a bit more confusing to assemble. In the end I'm glad I stumbled across this design by Jeannine Mosley (Diagram here).

"RUBY, DID YOU SEE THE VENEZUELAN PAVILION?"

Yes, yes I did. As a matter of fact, I sketched out just how to re-make the work from the Venezuelan Pavilion.

  

Solaris, from the Venezuelan Pavilion at the Biennale Di Venezia 2011

During my trip, we had the chance to explore the Biennale di Venezia, a contemporary art exhibition that takes place in venues all around Venice once every two years. One of the main centers for this event is Giardini, a park which houses numerous national pavilions where different countries display their works. After a morning of exploration by myself and meeting back up with my classmates, everyone asked "Ruby, did you see the Venezuelan Pavilion?" Of course I saw it! It was beautiful, and it was grand, and I want to have a room in my house one day solely for a large paper installation like it. The windows in the room were perfect, casting shadows off of the mountain and valley folds in just the right way. So there I was in the exhibit, my nose three inches from the paper, studying and sketching the crease pattern as other visitors sat back to enjoy it from afar.

 

With my trusty sketches, I have been able to re-make the crease pattern and one day when I have enough money for a big role of paper, I'll be able to make one too! Until then, I'm just using some scraps of brown paper stolen from the metal shop. It does the job pretty well. Next time I'll get a bigger piece.

It was hard to find the artist. His name is Yoshi and his style is just my cup of tea. He uses crease patterns that don't quite follow a grid, so it's not exactly a tessellation, but the geometry of them are similar. The way his folds allow the pieces to expand and contract and warp into interesting forms really gets me. I think I will start experimenting with this style. (Check out his Flickr, there's some great stuff there!)

SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING A CAREER CHANGE

Jum Nakao's paper dresses are absolutely beautiful right down to their laser-cut details. You need to watch this video until at least 3:50 to be really amazed: the end is quite a surprise. Nakao's work seriously makes me consider a career change (well maybe not seriously... but still). If I could make pretty dresses out of pretty paper for a living, I'd be quite content.

I'M HOME WITH LOTS OF INSPIRATION

I have returned from my trip! In the past month I have seen so many things that made me go "ooohhh" and quickly snap a picture (and by quickly I mean really quickly, hence some of the not-so-good quality photos). Paper-related or not, these things I saw made me want to fold, cut, score and crumple paper and now that I'm home, I plan to do just that! Here are some photos of stuff that inspired me on my trip.

Paper cut-out chandelier @ La Fabbrica Del Vapore, Milan

Third Stellation of Dodecahedron Model @ Da Vinci Museum of Science and Tech, Milan

Faceted Mirror @ Anish Kapoor Exhibit, Milan